Political Parties
Dear President Washington:
Hello Mr. President, it is me again, Andrew DeMarco. I happened to be reading your “Farewell Address” from 1796 upon your leaving office and see that you were very thoughtful in what we should be looking for and planning going forward as a new nation. I also realized that I will be writing to you on other matters, since your thoughts were almost prophetic. There was one section where you warned us of the dangers of political parties and from the amount of time you dedicated to this I am sure that this will not be the last time this issue will come up. So, I will begin with just one quote in particular about the evils of political parties and look at it in today’s light.
“It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus, the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.”
Mr. President, if you were here today to see what is going on in this country I don’t think for a minute you would be surprised but I am sure that you would be disappointed in the fact that we did not heed your advice. The animosity and jealousies that exists today between the two major parties has indeed enfeebled the public administration in that nothing seems to be getting accomplished. One party blocks the efforts of the other and it is we the people who suffer. Here is something I thought I would never say but it has even fomented the occasional riot, as groups from the far sides of both parties and the political spectrum have battled. Finally let’s not even get started on foreign influence because that has been the norm even before this past presidential election.
Mr. President I can only hope that members of both parties take some time to read your words and take a step back and realize it is time to put all their differences aside and do the work for “We the People” as they are supposed to do. Once again, we can learn from our past and your wisdom. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Mr. President it you would like to read and interesting take on why politics and political parties are failing us today read the document below.
Sincerely,
Andrew J. DeMarco
P.S. Don’t let the 80 pages scare you most of the paper is appendices, bibliography and graphs. You could also start to read it at page 8 and not miss a thing.
Pen Pals from the Past 